A new short duration turmeric variety, IISR PRAGATI–a boon to Indianfarmers

Abstract

Turmeric is a dried underground rhizome of perennial herb Curcuma longa L., of the family Zingiberaceae. It is traditionally used in Asian countries as condiment, dye, drug and cosmetic in addition to its use in religious ceremonies.India is the leading producer, consumer and exporter. AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, WestBengal, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Assam arethe important states that cultivate turmeric. In India, it is grown in 0.18 million ha with a production of 0.83 milliontones.India harbours rich diversity of Curcuma, especially speciesand cultivar diversity. There are many popular turmeric cultivars, which are specific to each region of cultivation.Duggirala, Armoor, Tekurpeta, Nandyal, Alleppey, Rajapuri,Salem, Erode, Gorakhpur, Mydukur, Lakadong, Waigaon etc. are some of the popular local cultivars which are essentially named after the places where they are grown extensively. Wide variability among the existing cultivars was recorded in respect of growth parameters, yieldattributes, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses andquality characters. Collection, evaluation and conservationof turmeric genetic resources is one of the core areas ofresearch in India. The turmeric conservatory of ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research (ICAR-IISR),Kozhikode, Kerala consists of 1450 accessions. In additionto ICAR-IISR, germplasm collections are also maintainedat various AICRPS centers located in different turmeric producing states.Generally, crop improvement programme in turmeric wasrestricted to clonal selection and induced mutation and subsequent selection. The main emphasis was yield, high curing percentage and high curcumin content. Clonal selection played the most significant role in developing several high yielding varieties in turmeric. This was due to rare seed set in turmeric. The selection was mainly applied on land races collected from different turmeric growing areas of the country.